Low-Cost-High Impact Marketing Strategies for a Slowdown

Today more and more marketers are beginning to perceive that, counter-intuitively, what is needed during a slowdown is increased investment in marketing to boost flagging sales, as well as to gain competitive advantage. As During a slowdown, the marketplace is less cluttered and you can use marketing to make an impact and steal a march on your competitors.

1. Focus on managing and satisfying your existing customers:

A slowdown is, in fact, the right time to strengthen already existing relationships by focusing on your current customers, offering them value-added services and showing them that they can continue to rely on and trust you. Use the customer data at your disposal to design measurable and effective CRM programs. If needed, make extra concessions to your existing customers and they will remember this once the market goes into an upswing.

2. Use lead management to maximise the value of each lead:

Invest in lead management tools, since you need to ensure that every dollar spent on a lead helps you get the most value out of that lead. Use lead nurturing to develop relationships with qualified prospects.

3. Adapt your products and services to suit the new environment:

Changing product attributes making it to suitable to customer basic requirement at the time of slowdown gives them more reason to takethe product or services. Marketing of these offers and strong product attributes to right prospect is the key here.

4. Internet use:

The most cost-effective marketing tool in these king of contidition. It is also the medium which is growing. Specially marketing of product like IT, ITES, Travel etc are suitable. The internet also offers a variety of innovative tools – viral marketing, blogging and other social networking tools, online press release distribution and Google adwords – allowing you to use a combination of these to keep your marketing vibrant and creative; all at a fraction of the cost of advertising or offline PR. Web 2.0 should be included with marketing activities.

5. Invest in measurable marketing tools like direct marketing:

Cut down on channels that do not lend themselves easily to ROMI, such as advertising, and instead focus on channels like direct marketing.

6. Tweak your marketing strategy to include ‘proof’ of your products and services:

Promote your offerings as low-risk, reliable and credible; in short that you are a ‘safe bet’. Focus on building credentials – your marketing communicating should revolve around customer references, expert opinions, awards and recognition, and strategic partnerships and alliances.

So, bottom line is don't stop investing in marketing. Instead use the lean market and invest in low cost marketing techniques.